After breaking into Hollywood at an early age, many
celebrities tend to fade out of the limelight—unless you’re Kelly Rowland, that
is. The singer has continued her career well past her days of Destiny’s Child,
carving out her own path as a singer, songwriter and most recently, an author. We caught up with the star, who’s teaming up with Band-Aid on a new ad campaign, to talk about motherhood, her new book and how she stays fit after
giving birth.

Rowland’s reason for partnering with Band-Aid: “I love the Stick With It campaign. We have these setbacks [in life] and things that are really challenging for us and this [campaign] is all about the way you
get back up and persevere.”

How her body changed post-pregnancy: “It was [hard] trying to wrap my head around this new body I
got after I had my son. I almost put on about 50 pounds so I didn’t know who
was looking back at me in the mirror. I wanted to get myself back to the point
where I felt like myself again, and that took awhile. You get out what you put
in, so I had to do the work [to get my body back].”

Her secret confidence booster: “A great pair of heels and a
good song.”

On what made her want to write a book: “I never thought to write a book, but when I had all these
different questions with my doctor when I was pregnant, she said women actually have more
questions about what happens after giving birth than before. There’s
great books that give women advice on what happens before, so I felt like I
understood and knew what was going to happen. But I couldn’t find anything on
what happens to you after.”

Her advice for other first-time mothers: “It’s one day at a time…It’s important to write down the
things you love and things you don’t want to forget about your pre-baby self so
that you don’t forget who she is. Sometimes when that happens, sadness sets in
and you forget to do the things you love. You have to put as much into yourself
as you put into your babies. It’s really important to take time out for
yourself because no one is going to do it the way you do it.”